Customs Officials Find Prohibited Cow Skins, Dried Beef In Baggage At Dulles Airport

DULLES, VA — U.S. Customs and Border protection officers seized 110 pounds of cow skins and dried beef that arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport on a Sept. 7 flight from Ethiopia, according to a CBP release. CBP officers discovered the items in the luggage of travelers from Nigeria and Cameroon, respectively.

The seized items are potential vectors for highly contagious or deadly animal diseases, such as Foot and Mouth Disease and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, according the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In an effort to protect the U.S. cattle and livestock industries, CBP routinely stops the importation of prohibited meat products from areas where outbreaks of animal disease have occurred.

At first, the passenger from Nigeria told customs officials she did not have any agricultural products with her, but she later declared the cow skins when offered a chance to change her declaration. CBP agriculture specialists examined her luggage and discovered 66 pounds of cow skins and slightly more than 2 pounds of wood bark. The bark was found to contain live insect larva.

The traveler from Cameroon declared the he was only transporting dried eru, which is a green leafy vegetable from African. After an x-ray of his baggage showed some anomalies, the agriculture specialists examined it and found 44 pounds of dried beef and over 4 pounds of wood bark. They also found soursop leaves, which is a plant from Africa with professed healing properties. An examination of the plants revealed numerous insects and signs of possible plant disease. CBP sent the insect and plant specimens to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for further analysis.

After confiscating the prohibited items, CBP officials released the travelers. The prohibited animal items, which were destined to addresses in Maryland, were incinerated.

“These interceptions illustrate the very real threat that Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists combat every day in order to protect our nation’s natural resources and economic security, and they meet that challenge with extraordinary commitment and vigilance,” said John Jurgutis, acting area port director for the area port of Washington, D.C., in a release.